2008-10-27

The Quick Fix is No Fix at All

(These pictures are of what so far has been a once-in-a-lifetime experience between myself and my daughter I. Her teacher had to leave early and her class was split among the other teachers, Bella being sent to mine.

She is an "A" student and I gave her a problem I knew she would have to struggle with. Why? One, I believe struggling with temporary "failure" is critical to becoming permanently successful.

Two, having the courage to struggle and face possible "defeat" in front of others gives others the courage to do the same.

Three, I love and believe in my daughter with all my heart, and teach my students as if they were my own, loving and believing in them with all my heart......and right now the world needs a lot of heart.....miles and miles of heart)

A new study out of London reports that the higher level thinking skills of 14 year-olds are now on par with that of 12 year-olds in 1976. (ABC News)

In effect, our children are two years dumber than they were two decades ago.

The reason given is that our schools are teaching to the test. So over the same time period, while state and national test scores have increased, the ability of our children to think has decreased.

Colleges are now placing less-emphasis on these scores as a basis for acceptance because they measure more a student's ability to memorize information than being able to use it to think at high levels and solve real problems.

And once again, the solution of the quick fix has only been successful in making things worse.

Instead of taking care of the consumer many businesses take advantage of them, the real-estate crisis being a prime example, and all of us suffer as the economy goes south.

Instead of working out to lose weight and developing a vast store of new inner discipline and strength we could use for future challenges and growth, we get liposuction and others surgeries which make us look for other quick-fixes for future challenges.

Instead of developing talents and becoming more in order to get more, we buy more lottery tickets hoping to get more by getting lucky. Yet because we didn't become the type of person who could earn the winnings, 90% of us who win the lottery lose our new wealth because we don't know how to keep it......and we find ourselves more in debt than before "winning" just a few years later.

Instead of becoming our own source of power and confidence, we look to other people and things to tell us we're acceptable and worth something, teaching our children to do the same.

Instead of struggling through the process of learning to see our own inner beauty, we get a face and body lift hoping the outside world will at least see our manufactured outer beauty, and then we'll feel good about ourselves.

Instead of being patient with our children and helping them develop the ability to focus, we put our children on pills to "help" them do it. Why? Because as adults we have chosen to put ourselves on pills of some kind instead of developing the inner strength to have patience with ourselves and, as a bye-product, the ability to help others do it too.

I know I'm not trying to come off as preachy. I also know that I deserve the criticism I receive for risking my health and job by pushing my own limits past the danger point time and again. But I look at what has happened to those around me as a result.

And the world is at risk more than ever, and needs real solutions real fast. Not living fully is not having lived at all. Focusing on keeping your job instead of fully doing your job is not doing it at all......All or nothing.

I notice that when I choose to focus on the higher things, the things that really matter, that's when the things that really matter tend to change for the better.

Things that can't be done ARE done. What "could be" becomes "WHAT IS". Where I used to fail I start succeeding, and where others around me used to fail they start succeeding.

Students who used to tell me they would come find me when they're older and kill me (because I'm making them face their unpleasant reality), now instead focus on making me help them change. Instead of continuing to fail test-after-test, now are open to learning why and beginning to double their scores and earning C's, B's and A's in the process.

Those who used to "succeed" on surface-knowledge tests now are succeeding at higher-level thinking and gaining meaningful knowledge and real-life abilities in the process......All of them hopefully for a lifetime, and all of them hopefully changing the world for the better in the process.

"In the process".....In the process of BECOMING MORE, not less.

From my experience and observation, the quick fix in most cases is no fix at all.

As our world is finally being forced to face increasing problems of economy, ecology, education, terrorism, etc. at the critical level, we are increasingly as a whole developing ourselves into quick fixers turning the current problems into critical crises, while dumbing down the very ones that will be asked to fix what we create.

The "monster needs to be stopped while it's little". Real, healthy education of our young by parents and teachers alike is critical in doing this. But how do we teach what we don't know how to do?

We take on a new role. We take on the role of hero. This is no time for false humility or feelings of unworthiness.

Since the monster of the quick-fix hasn't been stopped in our own lives and now has become big in adults all over the world.....We need to become the heroes of our own lives, to become more than we ever have been so far, growing bigger than and defeating this monster inside of us.

We do this, and we teach our children how to do this.

Our children learn how to do this, and they learn how to create more solutions to more problems instead of creating more and bigger problems needing more and bigger solutions.

And the world does change for the better.....in this process.

Today, today
Do I wake up
more old and gray?

Or do I wake up
determined,
to find a way?

My body has risen,
but has my soul?

Yes!
My spirit is awakened,
and I feel myself
becoming bold.

Today, Today!
What an incredible day!

For I have AWAKENED
on the dawn of this great day!

~ From one fully awakened soul to another,
Embrace today and give it a big kiss!
Adam Stuart
October 27, 2008

2008-10-23

One Day

Watching the end of the movie, "Secondhand Lions", where Walter gets a telephone call letting him know his uncles have died. Raised by his uncles, it's an emotional scene.

I couldn't help but think of one day getting a call to let me know my father or mother have passed away.......Or my grandmother.

One day I'm going to call and she won't be there. She's 88. She says many times the call is the best part of her day. When the kids are with me they want to be the first to talk to her and tell her they love her the most.

"I love you, Grandma", is the last thing I say to her every night. "I love you too, Adam", is the last thing she says to me. What a spectacular way to end your day, with love.

One day this will no longer happen, except in silent whispers towards Heaven.

And until that "one day" happens, I'm going to continue being in love with life and those I love, not "one day" in the future, but right now, one day at a time.

p.s. One of the best scenes from the movie, to which I'd like to add, "Right always triumphs over wrong, if you have the inner strength to make sure of it".


2008-10-15

BRING IT! ~ Creating Reality Creators

I like Tony's workout motto of "Bring It!" so much that I added it and his signed picture to the panther.

From my research and own classroom experience, the mind and spirit work a lot like the body. In order to have each student leave at the end of the year FEELING and BEING UNSTOPPABLE, I have to find a way to get each one of them to Bring It!.....

....You bring your completed homework EVERYDAY

....You bring your heart and mind EVERYDAY

...You bring your dreams and determination EVERYDAY

...You bring your best EVERYDAY

....And your best will be brought out.......EVERYDAY

One year isn’t a lot of time to make a long-lasting difference in a student’s life, but one year of Bringing It EVERYDAY makes it a lot more possible.

And just as in any healthy, functioning, and lasting relationship or partnership, the person asking for it has to also be willing to give it. If this is done everyday, then everyday is a darn good day as your best is brought out in yourself and those around you.

Out of necessity I get up about 6 hours before school starts. But it’s also part of a plan. If I can get up early and bring my best out physically, mentally and spiritually before I even get to school, chances are I'll be able to bring out the best in my students.

My incredible daughter noticed the sun coming out of the clouds yesterday morning as we pulled into school. I let her natural sense of joy and awe flow into me and give me a new burst of energy.

When she wanted me to play with her on the monkey bars I did, even though my muscles already had enough....and found out my heart had more.

And when it came time to start the school day, it ended up being the best day of the year so far.

The day before I wanted to quit. During our field trip Monday I looked at Bella and asked her what I was doing here besides being there for her and Sofia. I had to find the inner strength to go on, to hold onto that universal string that will never break....

That day, for the first time, EVERYONE brought it. I held on, and so did they. Because of the way I teach kids, some parents of very bright children want them in my class. And because of the way I reach kids, the administration puts in some of the very toughest.

I work out to be able to run and play with my children, but also to develop the inner strength to have the patience and understanding to hold onto this wide range of students, pushing and enriching the top, grabbing hold and lifting up everyone at the bottom, and guiding and coaching all those in the middle.

"Any fool can criticize, condemn and complain, and most fools do. But it takes a wise (and strong) person to be patient and understanding (while still not allowing for any excuses)." - A little Dale Carnegie mixed in with a little bit of me.

And if it's true that every reality has been focused into being by someone (Law of Attraction), then it's also true that we can recreate any undesirable reality we are facing.

The problem is that we were taught to face reality before we knew that we were just continuing to create what already was.

Teaching others to be reality creators may not be easy, and the older they get the harder it becomes....but the payoff is huge.

Two students got their I-pods back on Tuesday after giving me their best day ever! They lost them two months ago because of their behavior. They got them back because of their behavior. THEY are in control of their behavior because they finally are taking control of their thoughts and actions....and now they are beginning to see that.

Another student who really brought it made me take him to the office to "tell on him" by showing the principal his growth in test scores from the beginning of the year to now:

Social Studies = 45 to 88%
Science = 52 to 84%
Math = 09 to 53%
Reading = 86 to 103%
Language Arts = 0 to 110%

***And this is a student who used to give up and storm out of class. This told me he had great fire, but it was uncontrolled and burning him up, destroying him more and more every day. And if someone didn't reach him soon, he might become too hard to reachand as an adult cause great damage in the world.

For two months I've been starring at my picture after class of Bruce Lee, asking him to teach me how to teach this kid.

It finally came to me. "Be like water my friend."...Sometimes gently flowing, other time flowing in a great crashing force. And it worked.

And now I see this picture taken on Tuesday. These words were put together by two students, one going from C's to A's and the other from F's to C's.

They have also learned how to Bring It! They have learned how to create their own dreams into realities.

Face reality, Hah! How about creating it?

How about becoming your own hero, just for one day?




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2008-10-14

WOW ~ AB RIPPER X!!!!!

I'm beginning the second week of Tony Horton's P90X workout. You might have seen the commercials where the guys and girls look unbelievably fit.

I met Tony while in LA last spring and got him and a few other Hollywood stars to write to the class, encouraging the students to dream and do big. That class went on to achieve almost 700% greater scores than other classes on the state reading test.......So Dreaming AND Doing BIG definitely works.

This year things are much, much worse. Out of panic more obstacles have been placed on teachers instead of less. I've never enjoyed teaching less, as the very doors they want us teachers to open have been locked chained and shackled.........which means I have to turn it around and make this year the one I enjoyed teaching the most, by blowing the doors off of limitations more than ever.

I'm receiving less net pay after child support and medical/dental deductions but because of the economy and both ex's involved in real estate, I'm paying for more and more of my children's expenses. For the first time in ten years I've felt like quitting teaching and going out and just making money............

That's why I decided to do P90X. In order to do more, I'm going to have to become more. I haven't come this close to throwing up after a workout since I was doing Navy Seal workouts ten years ago.....the last time I saw a six-pack v. having a stomach Sofia likes to jiggle.

You gotta push it sometimes....push it PAST your current limitations to expand your capabilities....because if you don't, then everything stays the same or gets worse, others still control how and what you do, and you find yourself complaining about things instead of overcoming them.

And that's just a waste of everything we really are.

2008-10-12

Videos of Childhood Memories

Some more of the tennis videos from two weeks ago. Be sure to watch the last two for a look at the real Bella. Brosden was off catching tadpoles during all this.
Check out this video: Tennis with the Kids - 4








Check out this video: Tennis with the Kids - 5








Check out this video: Tennis With the Kids - 7








Check out this video: Tennis with the Kids - 8








Check out this video: Tennis with the Kids - 9








Check out this video: Tennis with theKids - 10








Check out this video: Tennis with the Kids - 11






Bella....Outstanding Bella


Out of full fairness to Izsabella after posting the video showing her playful and pernicious side (Bella....Sneaky Bella), I have to post this picture of her that I just saw on her mom's facebook page. Last year she won the nomination for the most outstanding female student out of the entire school for the 3rd Quarter.

Bella is truly remarkable, as is EVERY SINGLE ONE OF US............with the reality being that very few of us ever have that potential guided and unleashed into the manifestation of its full-blown reality.

Bella has developed her potential into actuality, and I thank her mother and other father (who I think is truly amazing), and all her teachers for helping her do this.

But most of all I thank Bella herself, because no matter how much a parent wants it for their children, a teacher for their students, or a coach for their players.....it always comes down to the individual making it happen....and Bella definitely has.

Way to go Bella. You truly are living an outstanding life!

Bella....Sweet Bella

Bella
Wonderful Bella
Wonderful Sweet Bella


Bella
Sneaky Bella
Sneaky Playful Bella


Watch
Watch Bella
Watch Wonderful Sweet Sneaky Playful Bella


See
See Why
See Why Her Father is Always Happy!


- I LOVE YOU baby girl!
- Dad

- Adam Stuart
October 12, 2008
(Bella 10 years old)



Tennis with the Kids - 12